Berkeley Community Theater is one of the greatest–in every way–old showplaces west of the Mississippi. Why isn’t it booked more? Why don’t most people in town know it exists, let alone what’s playing there? From Ani di Franco to Zappa that stage has seen the best of the best. Could it be refurbished and filled with culture without disturbing the High School? Some administration is dropping the ball on this one, because there’s $$$ to be made as well. Anybody else want to work to restore this once great venue?

Eric

Wow, easing up on sidewalk seating. That’s cool, though we will need wider sidewalks. Some pedestrian only areas combined with policing so that patrons don’t have to listen to someone braying about the Street Spirit could help, a lot.

Bruce Love

Berkeleyside has and is friends with real estate experts. I have two questions about the foreclosure auction rigging case.

1. These guys colluded to not compete on the steps of the courthouse, nominally lowering the final selling price. Then they reauctioned the properties at a profit. That profit was distributed among themselves. Couldn’t they have done the same thing, with only a slight loss of profit, perfectly legally, by structuring themselves as an investment firm of some kind? In other words, wasn’t this close to just being a flawed, illegal implementation of a business model that can be implemented fully legally? If so, it’s hard to argue that they are depressing prices significantly.

2. (Not a real estate question.) Is the Berkeley fellow who plead guilty the same person as the same named bass player that used to play for Santana?